Comparison of the Treatment of Aging Parents by Asians American and European Americans

Upon analyzing the Analects, we can describe filial piety as “not being disobedient” (Koh, 366). One’s filial duties are clearly defined by Confucius and how to accomplish this is a large part of the text. According to Koh Eung-Kang, filial duty is departmentalized into three separate categories: mental care, physical care, and care after death (366). This special care can be interpreted as the concept of benevolence which was listed above as one of the five virtues, where familial care holds more weight than emotional attachment. Today, benevolence is still held in the highest regard, and children are still expected to do their filial duty and care for their parents. This is evident by the lack of nursing homes in Korea. Grandparents are expected to live with their children until the end of their natural lives. (Koh, Eun-Kang, Koh, Chin-Kang 2008:

Aging is very complex and highly individualized process which begins at conception and end with death. Variables such as physical or cognitive impairments, socioeconomic aspect, cultural values, and beliefs make an aging process unique to each individual. I interviewed an elderly woman using a set of guided questionnaires on the topic to further explore her aging experience. For the purpose of this assignment, I will refer to the client interviewed as a D.L., a changed name for a reason of privacy and confidentiality. During the interview, we explored a D.L. strategy to stay healthy, significant accomplishments of her life, hobbies and activities, retirement, and finally the goals for the future.

Gerontology as a field of scientific study can be traced back to the late 1800s; a time when research primarily focused on the negative attributes of aging, such as health decline. It wasn 't until the introduction of social gerontology in 1983 that researchers began to more rigorously study the psychological and social aspects of aging. In recognizing that “successful aging depends not just on the prevention of disease and disability, but also on the attainment of peak physical and psychological functioning,” (Quadagno,

The final stage is the “family in later life”. During this stage, individuals must accept the shifting of generational roles, as they become the grandparents. They must be able to let go of some power to their offspring as they find their new place in the family system. Dealing with this change while facing potential decline in health, financial security, and loss of spouse can be stressful. Grandparenthood can be a reward substitute (Carter & McGoldrick, 1988, p. 20).

Good families have many ingredients that make them function properly. One of these elements is values, or what the family views as important. This helps family members know what is good and bad for them. The article “Celebrating Your Family Culture” states, “Around our household, we constantly say, ‘Well, in our family we believe…and everyone’s family is different.’ I’m sure my son gets tired of hearing this in response to why he can’t have the latest electronic gadget, but I also think hearing this anchors him. Kids want to know where you stand on important issues and what your family values,” (Trudeau). The article tells how even though the family values can annoy a member; it steadies them to know the priorities. Having that clear view can also have other effects on family members. When My Name was Keoko tells how Keoko or Sun-hee saw her uncle and mom value their patriotism. This helped her see that her own patriotism should be strong (Park 11, 32, 33, 93). The family values were very important when the Japanese invaded Korea. They were probably the only Korean thing the people of Korea had. Without them the Koreans would give up and never have their own culture again. Concluding, the values that families have are very

The Anglo-American culture values youth rather than old age and consider it acceptable to place elderly individuals in a nursing home when they can no longer individually care for themselves. The previous statemen can be validated by comparing the values of their family ties, in which Anglo Americans operate themselves under a Nuclear family rather than a Joint Family. A Nuclear family consists of only the two parents and their children, where as in other cultures, a Joint family is valued, which is defines itself as a large number of relatives living under one group. As you analyze the prior statements, one can assume that the Anglo-Americans prefer to follow an Individualistic approach, rather than communal, because it is assumed that they believe it is best to serve your own worth as an individual for the purpose of pursuing the public interest. Furthermore, these group of people stress the importance of cleanliness, orderliness, attractiveness, punctuality, and achievement. (Rosdahl & Kowalski, 2017)

Life expectancy across the globe has increased during the last century resulting in a rise in the proportion of older population, especially in developed countries. This brings with it many challenges concerning the welfare of the elderly, as they need food, shelter, health care and security (Sung K, 2004). It becomes important to study how different cultures perceive old age as these attitudes determine behaviors towards the old (Yun and Lachman, 2006). The main objective of this literature review is to find out as to what are the perceptions about ageing in different cultures and how do they influence the treatment meted out to the older people in a society. Moreover, this review also aims to describe how these perceptions towards old

Therefore, many people in America are worried if there is going to be a crisis in health care. The chapter also discussed that doctors and nurses are starting to make more house calls to the elderly population. These increasing house calls are due to their patient’s fragile nature which forces the patient to be homebound. Furthermore, the chapter also touched on the fact that many of the elderly people are going to nursing homes. This is due to many different reasons. One of the reasons is that years ago the family size was much larger and so there were many people in the family to care for the elderly in the family. But, in present time many of the elderly do not have as many children or that the children do not live close by

In our society today, the older population is a diverse and growing group with more and more individuals reaching the life stage of late adulthood, and even very late adulthood. According to Hutchison (2015), the late adulthood stage begins at 65 years of age and continues through 85 years of age and the very late adulthood stage begins at 85 and carries through until death. During the aging process, many changes occur within the body and mind as well as family structure and social roles. Individuals who have reached these life stages today may have lived through the Great Depression, the World Wars, the Civil Rights Movement, and many other important historic events, all of which have shaped their life experiences. For

Determined attempt to gain an understanding of the “life course” of an older adult and what it means someone who is in their older adulthood, my main question is gathering and analyzing information about their personal experience in their stages of aging. The main purpose of this paper is interview my relative grandma who is approaching her seventies. My relative grandmother was born in 1946 in Somalia. During my interview with my relative grandmother she told me that her father passed away when she was in her early teen. He was very ill for three years with heart disease. Her mother passed when she was in her middle adulthood. She had asthma for a very long time and died for it. When I asked my relative grandmother what it like is to get older

Aging is a universal phenomenon and humans are no exception. Gerontology deals with the psychological, social and biological aspects of aging process. A recent study shows that people aged 85 years and older are expected to augment from 5.3 million people to 21 million as the world reach 2050. In today’s world Gerontology has an enormous role to play so that the senior citizens could be analyzed and their needs may be addressed with compassion and empathy.

Later adulthood is the time in life when changes in marriage, families, and peer relationships are affected the most by the loss of someone close to that person. “Most people 70 years of age or older are widowed, divorced, or single” (Zastrow & Kirst-Ashman, 2010, p.619). Losing a spouse or close friend can create a sense of loneliness, which causes depression, anxiety and the emptiness feeling can become overwhelming. Depression also leads to psychological effects that will deteriorate a person’s health causing the chance for a terminal disease to become much higher. The weaker appearance of older adults causes family and remaining peers to step up in the role of making sure the person’s wellbeing is being met. (Zastrow & Kirst-Ashman, 2010). Living accommodations and healthcare needs

The generally accepted way in which children in a society are raised, constitutes its philosophical and social child rearing practice. Child-rearing research has focused on understanding differences in parent’s beliefs and values, characteristics of cultural socialization, and the implications of such variations. “Chinese parents traditionally stress their authority over their children and expect unquestioning obedience from them” (Chiu 1987). In America, a parent’s main focus is what they should do for their children to help them succeed in life; Chinese parents raise their children to do what is best for their parents and society. Significant differences were found in Chinese,

In order to explore the individual experiences of an older adult in the United States, we conducted an interview of a 78-year-old white male living in Silver Spring, Maryland. Throughout this paper, the interviewee will be referred to as Edgar; this is not his real name. The interview was conducted in the home of one of the interviewers because it is close to Edgar’s home. Throughout the interview, we discussed Edgar’s personal experiences with ageism, the physical and psychological effects of aging, family and social supports in old age, and the transition from work to retirement. While his experiences with personal aging are similar to that of many other individuals his age, his experience as full-time male caregiver offers unique insight into an unofficial occupation dominated by women.

Aging is described as a sequential, irreversible, progressive, and non-pathological process of maturation in an organism and that translates to a gradual decline in the ability to perform activities optimally. Aging is an individual process that can be a period of stress for individuals especially following their retirement (Hiller & Barrow, 2015). The current study sought to understand the process and experience of aging from the perspective of elderly individuals. In discussing matters of aging and retirement, many assume that women are always eager to retire, and adjust well, as compared to their male counterparts (Bauger & Bongaardt, 2016). Many people assume that since women are generally made as homemakers, they are willing and happy to retire while men, whose nature is to be the main source of family income, find it hard to be out of work (Moody & Sasser, 2014). Indeed, there exists very little literature that sheds some light on this area, particularly on the attitudes of each gender towards retirement and process of aging. Given the significance of retirement to this life stage, the study sought to understand the emotions and views of individuals regarding their retirement through the lenses of (1) Physical health and wellbeing, (2) Friends, Family, and Community, (3) Work and leisure, (4) Finances and lifestyles, and (5) Living